1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved brassiere. In particular, the present invention relates to an improved brassiere useful as a sports brassiere, a nursing brassiere, and as a general purpose brassiere for women with large bust sizes.
2. Description of Related Art
In the United States alone, more than a half million brassieres are purchased each day. Among the various types of brassieres women buy, an increasing number are sports brassieres. More women than ever are leading active lives. The emphasis on reducing body fat, maintaining a strong cardiovascular system, and the heightened public awareness that heart disease affects women with increasing regularity has lead to more and more adult females participating regularly in athletic activities. While numerous athletic brassieres exist, the prior art brassieres provide only minimal support to women with moderate and larger-sized breasts. Brassieres designed for small breasts are commercially successful, yet the number of women left without adequate support is huge. Over one-third (37%) of the U.S. female population wears large-sized apparel (sizes 16 and higher); fully 25% of these women are under age 35. Almost all of these women wear a C or larger cup. Additionally, a significant percentage of the women who wear regular sizes have breasts requiring a C or larger cup.
Aerobics classes, both high and low impact, as well as aerobic walking tend to be attractive to women because they require no previous experience, are usually conducted with the companionship of others, need no more equipment than a pair of sturdy shoes, and can be done regardless of the constraints of inclement weather or darkness.
The goal of an athletic brassiere is to hold the breasts in place. Today's market for athletic brassieres, different in design from most general use brassieres, evolved from the jogging craze of the 1970s. There are a large variety of sports brassieres on the market--yet, strikingly few are geared to the needs of the larger-breasted participant. High impact aerobics for women of cup size C or larger puts this challenge to the test as the tremendous load on the brassiere is not from one primary movement (as in jogging), but from a wide variety of movements, each performed quickly, with rapid motion changes every few seconds. A sports brassiere for aerobics must offer support for vertical motion, support for horizontal motion, extensive freedom of movement for the arms and torso, as well as comfort when doing floor exercises.
Minimizing unwanted lateral and vertical breast movement during vigorous activity not only makes sport participation more enjoyable but protects the delicate connective tissues which support the breasts. The breasts are made up predominately of fatty tissue which insulate and protect the mammary glands and milk ducts. There are no supporting muscles in the breast, further, the ligaments which extend over the breasts are easily stretched and naturally lose some of their support in the aging process. Support is the primary goal; but an effective sports brassiere must also eliminate bouncing, minimize self-consciousness about breast movement, afford ample freedom of movement, allow for chest expansion and respiration, be comfortable and durable.
The design of an effective sports brassiere is truly a structural engineering challenge. There are two basic design principles currently employed in sports brassieres: encapsulation and compression. To compress is to make more compact by pressure. Compression brassieres bind the breasts to the chest wall as one mass. As U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,150 describes the technique, ". . . the purpose and design of the present invention is to pull the breasts inwardly, and to not to shape the breasts . . ." As patent 4,583,544 describes it, ". . . the construction of the brassiere acts to bind the breasts against the body, rather than molding or shaping them." For women with small breasts, brassieres that firmly squeeze the breasts flatly onto the chest wall can provide sufficient breast restraint to be effective. However, for women with large breasts, a brassiere which compresses the breasts will often fail to effectively restrain the breasts from moving during exercise. Further, such a brassiere can be uncomfortable and even painful to women with large breasts.
To encapsulate is to surround, encase, or protect as if in a capsule. Rather than acting as if the breasts are merely pliable bumps, an encapsulating brassiere firmly holds each individual breast, surrounding each in supportive fabric. Encapsulation confines each breast within a cup- or pocket-like structure and attempts to control the movement of the breasts as two smaller independent masses rather then one large compressed one.
While some encapsulating sport brassieres available have adequate cup design, other design elements in these bras have deficiencies, e.g., thin shoulder straps, no girth adjustability, short back pieces, etc. (these deficiencies are discussed below).
Listed below are the most common problems with brassieres currently available:
1. All-stretch fabrics
A sports brassiere requires a certain amount of stretch in order to allow the wearer to breathe and move comfortably; alternatively, too much stretch can defeat the brassiere's ability to hold the breasts firmly during movement. A significant number of the sports brassieres on the market stretch in every direction in each part of the brassiere(strap, cup, back panel, surrounding elastic, etc.). All-stretch bras can provide support, but, as the breasts begin to move, so does the fabric--a real problem for large-breasted women.
2. Thin shoulder straps
One of the battle scars for the athletic woman (and many large-breasted women, in general) is bright red, indented welts in the shoulders. A tremendous responsibility for support rests on the shoulder straps. The thinner the straps, the more load the straps place on the skin. Intense activity magnifies the responsibility the straps play in shouldering the support of the brassiere. To provide both support and comfort, a brassiere for supporting sizable breasts must have wide shoulder straps. A surprisingly high number of commercially available sports bras have painfully thin (in the 1/2 inch range) shoulder straps.
3. No girth adjustability
The most popular style of athletic brassiere consists of a wide elastic rib band which wraps around the body and is pulled on over the head. If the girth of the brassiere is perfect for you, and if the elastic does not lose any of its retractability after numerous wearing, and if the elastic does not lose its hold in the wash, and if your body size never changes (from water weight for instance), then these brassieres pose no problem. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many women. A tight fit cuts off circulation and is uncomfortable; a loose fit reduces the support by not holding the breast firmly during activity. Also, if the elastics in the brassiere become stretched, either from multiple wearing or washing, there is no way to make adjustments, so that the brassiere that fits well initially drops in utility as the wearer uses it.
4. No shoulder strap adjustability
A typical woman's brassiere uses one of many available mechanisms to allow the wearer to adjust the length of the shoulder straps. One of the most surprising features of many of the available sports bras is the inability to lengthen or shorten the shoulder straps. As discussed in above, a correct fit is essential to achieving maximum support. Without the ability to adjust the brassiere's fit to the body, you do not have the ability to enhance the level of support. The shoulder straps are a crucial area where fit and comfort must mesh in an intricate balance in order for a brassiere to be both effective and comfortable. The distance between the breasts and the shoulders is not so standard a measurement that a one-size-fits-all approach can be effective.
5. Short back piece
The effectiveness of a brassiere is largely determined by the shoulder straps. The shoulder straps rely on the back piece of the brassiere for their support. If the back piece is a small amount of fabric, barely covering the back, the strap has little to support it--this results in extra stress placed on the shoulders.
6. No separator between cups
Support for the larger women must be by encapsulation if the garment is to be effective and allow for pain-free exercise. In order to achieve this, each breast must be kept "lifted and separated", that is, held firmly in its correct position with as little ability to move (up and down as well as laterally) as possible. As the breasts are not adjoining, a separator between the cups is required for each breast to be held individually in its correct location.
7. Narrow elastic band under cups
The bottom piece of most brassieres is an elastic band, generally called a rib band, which rests under the cups and wraps around the girth of the body. In most general-use brassieres and many athletic brasseries, this band is quite narrow, usually no more than 5/8ths of an inch wide. For the smaller woman, this does not pose a problem since the purpose of the band is simply to rest on the torso holding the brassiere in place. For the larger woman undergoing a rigorous workout, the role of this band is crucial. The purpose of the band is to anchor the brassiere--to affix the brassiere in place and hold it there. As the body moves, the elastic moves on the body. Within minutes, a narrow elastic will move under the breasts completely, totally abandoning the responsibility of holding the brassiere in place against the torso. As a result, the breasts bounce freely.
8. Thin or non-supportive fabric
If the fabric of the brassiere is thin or loose, the brassiere cannot provide adequate support.
9. Hooks in back or front
The most standard closure mechanism for brassieres is a series of hooks and eyes in the back center of the brassiere, or a single hook or column of hooks in the front. Problems with this arrangement include: i) for a hook-in-back brassiere, while it is usually innocuous when the wearer is standing up, it can be very uncomfortable when performing athletic activities laying on the ground, such as sit-ups, judo, or yoga; ii) the hooks get bent out of shape from extensive use and repeated washing, and once bent, it is hard to get them to retain their original shape; in addition, the place of the bend becomes weak, leading to the hook breaking off altogether; iii) finally, a brassiere should be easy to get on and off and easy to adjust while it is being worn--the traditional hook-in-back mechanism requires the brassiere to be put on upside down and backwards, then twisted around the body. Once on, there is no easy way to adjust it short of twisting it back around the body and repeating the process (or soliciting help from someone else). Avoiding this back hook system altogether protects the back of the body from abrasion caused by these metal closures and facilities adjustment of the brassiere. With respect to a front hooking brassiere, such a construction fails to provide for size adjustment as front hooking bras have only an "on" or "off" position. There is insufficient room between the cups to allow for a choice of sizings.
10. Imprecise sizes (e.g., S/M/L)
A brassiere has little chance of supporting the breasts well if it is not the right size for the body. For that reason, brassieres are marketed by two measures: width around the torso (e.g., 32, 34, 36, etc.) and size of the actual breasts (e.g., B, C, D, DD, etc.). For some reason, many brassiere manufacturers have chosen to market sports bras in the more generic Small, Medium, and Large categories. While this may suffice for, say, a medium girth woman with medium size cups, it is clear that a large percentage of the female population requires more precise sizing to achieve maximum support and comfort.
11. Not available in larger than C cup
The overwhelming majority of athletic bras are not offered for the woman with a breast size greater than C; yet there are millions of women who need brassieres in larger sizes.
12. Straps fall off shoulders
Once a brassiere has a good fit and is comfortable to wear, it helps if it stays on the body. The most common place for a brassiere to break away from the body is the shoulder strap. If the straps are too loose, they slide over the shoulder; if the straps are too tight, the brassiere is uncomfortable to wear. Even a well fitting strap can slide off the shoulder if the wearer is engaging in activities utilizing a side-to-side motion. It is for this reason that many brassieres now have straps that criss-cross across the back. Alternatively, non-criss-crossing straps can work effectively if the straps fit close to the neck, coming down toward the center of the back. Nevertheless, many sports bras have straps that come straight down the back and connect to the brassiere closer to the sides of the body than to the middle.
13. Underwire
The best supporting bras lift each breast slightly and hold them lifted while the wearer moves. The most effective way to achieve this lift/hold is with an underwire. However, underwire is not appropriate in a sports brassiere (although a few do exist) as the wire can cause chafing from the constant motion of a sweaty body, can be uncomfortable when doing extensive movement and/or stretching (especially laterally), and tend to break through the fabric casing and poke the wearer. Sports bras tend to forgo the underwire and achieve the lift/hold with very supportive fabrics and elastics. This is perfectly effective for small women, but the amout of elasticity required to lift/hold the breasts for larger-sized women leads to uncomfortable compression.
14. Non-adjustable cups
In reality, most women have one breast that is slightly larger than the other. Some women must procure specially fitted (and more costly) brassieres because their breast size differential is significant. By providing women with the means to adjust each cup individually, a brassiere can more accurately be fitted, ensuring the most comfort and the most support.